The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of Bethesda’s most popular video games, and the success of the game has increased expectations of what fans expect from future Elder Scrolls titles. On Aug. 21, Nick Konkle, Lead Gameplay Designer at Zenimax Online Studios, discussed with Examiner Skyrim’s success and the impact it had on the studio and The Elder Scrolls Online.

In 2011, Bethesda released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. The title saw rapid success with total sales exceeding 10 million copies worldwide. This high level of success, however, put pressure on the Elder Scrolls Online team.

“Yeah honestly [we felt the pressure.] Oblivion had done well and had obviously been big enough to launch our venture because that was all that was out at first,” Konkle shared.

Although Skyrim’s success added new pressure to the development team, Konkle continued to say that the team saw the sales of Skyrim climb and recognized the title’s popularity.

“I think that was the most striking thing, was how many people potentially want or are interested in the game we are making and the expectations they have for our game.”

“When we saw the sales numbers of Skyrim racking up, we thought ‘wow this is so popular.’”

Skyrim’s success led the team to recognize that there could be a big audience of people interested in The Elder Scrolls Online.

The Elder Scrolls Online will be released on PC, PS4, and Xbox One in 2014.